I almost threw up in the Starbuck's restroom.

Thursday morning we landed in Orlando.  That airport is the worst.  The worst.  Maybe it's really just the same as most American airports though where they have to do a crazy security check 3 or 4 times and keep you waiting for hours to get back your racing bike.  C'mon, what kind of terrorist devise can I hide in a bike?  

Thursday afternoon.  70kms,  86 degrees. Strong pace.  Lots of hills.   Tons of cyclists.  1 redneck pick up truck driver gave us the finger.  Must have seen our enormous packages and become enraged with jealousy.  There are pretty good hills out here.  Everyone says Florida is flat, but it's as hilly as Ontario.  Maybe  if you leave out Milton and Collingwood it's the exact same.

                                                    That green habanero sauce was primo!

Friday Morning.  Mid eighties.  50kms.  Also a strong pace.  Just not too long.  We had to beat feet down to south of Miami and check into our hotel and get our race numbers and timing chip.  5 hour drive.  We have a black Kia.  Great on gas, lousy A/C.  When we arrived and unloaded we went for what was intended to be a short 1 hr spin around town just to spin out the legs in prep for the next morning.  It turned into the Lycra version of "Boys in da Hood".   We rode through the total ghetto suburb of Miami.  It was total Compton.  Every car had huge chrome wheels,  every house has a  a steel fence and gate, and there were Pit-Bulls everywhere.  Not nice Ontario Pitbulls.  These looked like the Pitbulls that are the ones that sparked the breed specific ban in Ontario.  That was the scariest ride I have ever done.  We turned around after 5 or 6 kms.

Just as we couldn't find any place good to eat last year in North Carolina, it's pretty hard to find decent food here too.  There are millions of restaurants,  just nothing that bears any semblance to a healthful food option.  Sadly, we settled on Applebee's.  The Pasta dinners were pretty good.  Then today we went back and I had the steak , baked potatoes, and seasonal veggies.  Again , pretty good.  cheap too.

The beer is cheap , but pretty tasteless.

We raced the circuit race this morning.  Maybe 40 guys in our category.  most looked very fast.  Lean and fit.  Mostly, tanned as hell.  What they were telling us is that their racing season starts in right after Xmas and ends around the end of April.  So these guys are flying right now.  For me, although I have been training all winter, I have only been outside maybe 3 times in 2011.  So my goal was to just stay in the pack.  The first race was just under 1 hr.  It was pretty fast.  I hung on strong until the last lap.  I was really sucking wind, then some dolt from Z-Motion takes my line and we rub wheels really badly.  In true XC race fashion I manage to keep it upright  but that little jolt and the accompanying clicking in my front wheel sort of helped blow me out the back.  I dropped off and crossed the line alone.  Maybe second or third from last.  Disappointed and dissolutioned I rode back to the hotel with Marc, barely talking.  Marc got around 15th place or so.     About 4 hrs later we had to return for the Time Trial.  Not my forte at all.  Other than I feel that I paced myself well, there is not a lot to say about a time trial.  I think I did well.  I was at least happy with my effort.  Marc was also happy with his.  Although we haven't seen the official results yet.

Tomorrow we go back for the road race.  115 kms, and its going to be near 90 degrees.  Marc overheard some local racers complaining to the officials about the race .  They want it shortened because of the heat.  Hoping to do a bit better tomorrow.   Will post race results afterwards.

Going for dinner in Key Largo tomorrow night.   Booyaa!!!!!!!